Banned Maria Sharapova to discover her fate in October
Tuesday 13 September 2016 10:50, UK
Maria Sharapova will discover next month whether her two-year ban for taking a banned substance will be enforced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Russian was suspended by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) after failing a drugs test for Meldonium at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
However, she claims her mistake was an oversight because the substance - which was only added to the banned list by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in January of this year - is also commonly known by another name.
The five-time Grand Slam winner admits to testing positive for Meldonium, saying she had taken the drug for 10 years but was unaware that the substance had been banned because it is often referred to by a different name.
After being provisionally suspended in March, she issued a statement which read "I received a letter from the ITF that I failed a drugs test at the Australian Open.
"I take full responsibility for it. For the past 10 years, I have been given a medicine called Mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago, after I received the ITF letter, I found out that it also has another name of Meldonium which I did not know.
It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on WADA's banned list.
"It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years, this medicine was not on WADA's banned list and I had legally been taking the medicine for the past 10 years.
"But on January 1st, the rules changed and Meldonium became a prohibited substance which I had not known.
"I was given this medicine by my doctor for several health issues that I was having in 2006."
In April, WADA intimated that athletes who tested positive for Meldonium before March 1 could avoid bans, although the ITF insisted the case would still proceed.
In June, the ITF announced Sharapova would be banned for two years which led to her issuing an appeal to the CAS, who have now announced they will make their judgement public during the first week of October.
If CAS decides to uphold the ITF's decision, it would mean Sharapova would remain banned until January 2018. She is hoping the tribunal will reduce the length of the ban or overturn it completely.
